Cynthia,
I do not think that I rename concepts. The term cognitive dissonance is a theory that tries to explain the phenomenom of belief persistance in case of disconfirming events, but I have to admit that it a somewhat unusual expression and I will try to be clearer next time. You seem to think that my desire to understand thing and exlain things is the same as excusing things. I meant to say, that the sexual abuse by SSB could only take place because he has a lot of power over people. Both worldly power and power in the form of trust in him by his followers.
The problem with reading about something that I do not know much about, like sexual abuse, is that I tend to distrust what I read: I only really believe it when I am presented with corroborating evidence. This tendency is a somewhat unfortunate consequence of my involvement with SSB. So it would take a lot of time for me to study the subject of sexual abuse.
Andries
